Trusting God through confusion

Our present time is confusing. Every day, we are exposed to events that shake us inside out and make us grapple with the question: how in the world do we remain confident in the present time that God is in control and knows exactly what He is doing?

The Biblical prophet Habakkuk also went through this confusion in his time. For Habakkuk, the confusion was: why does God allow evil to continue in this world? Why doesn’t He constrain or stop those who practise it? 

The issue that Habakkuk was struggling with was the threat to Judah by the brutal and godless Babylonians. On reading this short book, we notice that the prophet begins his prophecy by admitting his confusion — but ends with affirmation that he has obtained complete confidence in the ways of God. How was Habakkuk able to walk with confidence across the difficult, confusing terrain of his times?

Feet like the deer’s

When the situation made no sense to the prophet, we see him demand an explanation about whether God knew what He was doing. “Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong?” he asks (Habakkuk 1:3). The first thing we can do whenever we are confused by God’s seeming non-intervention in human affairs is to admit our confusion. It is always better to do so than dishonestly pretend the confusion does not exist. We can admit that even though we don’t understand all the ways of God, the One who gave His Son to die for our sins has to have a good reason for everything.

It is always better to admit our confusion than dishonestly pretend that it does not exist

As Christians, we may have the desire to give the impression that we have the answer to all of life’s problems. Confusion makes us feel helpless, vulnerable, and dependent. Any explanation, no matter how strange, seems better than having to live with confusion, because it enables us to feel back in control. 

But God wants us to trust Him in the face of massive confusion. This is one of the most difficult things to do in the Christian life. Many times, we say the words easily: “I trust God, my faith in Him is strong as a rock”. But when we are faced with difficult and confusing situations, our strong trust crumbles and turns to sand. 

The ability to confess that we trust in God in difficult situations, even though we have no idea what God is doing, is one of the greatest spiritual strengths we can possess. Prophet Habakkuk showed it to a great degree when he penned this verse in Habakkuk 3:19: “God, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer’s; He makes me tread on my high places.”

This is what Habakkuk did and what we too can do to move from confusion about God’s ways to confidence in His purpose.

Prayer: 

Heavenly Father, help us to trust You even when we can’t trace You in our confusion. Please grant us the sure-footedness of a deer and help us not to slip or slide in our faith as a result of all the uncertainty around us. Search us, O Lord, and help us to be honest in our confessions to You, even in our confusion. Thank You that You are working every detail of our lives into something good. In the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.